Lincoln and Capitan, New Mexico

I recently returned from a trip to Lincoln County, New Mexico, where my mother owns a ranch. My children stayed with her on the ranch, but there wasn't enough room in her house for me and my wife to stay there as well, so we stayed at a B&B in Lincoln, NM. The B&B is called Casa de Patrón.

The B&B measured up very respectably to other B&B's we've stayed at. The proprietors were extremely nice and accommodating, the other guests were fun to chat with and the breakfasts were really good. They included a baked egg dish that I'd place somewhere between a soufflé and an omelet; a great Dutch baby; and stuffed French toast (with cream cheese, nuts and apples). The hosts appear to have a thing for antique washboards; there were dozens of them on the walls, both in the guestrooms and in the main areas of the house.

Other than that, decent food was difficult to find, though the fact that we inadvertently visited the area during a Billy the Kid festival killed our ability to get seated at the better-regarded restaurants in the area.

By far, the oddest restaurant we ate at is called Rustic Roots Café. It is located at the end of a mile of gravel road driving north of Capitan, NM. Had I a digital camera on my person, I would have begin snapping photos the moment I drove into up to the place. But let me back up a little. One thing you have to know about this part of the country is that pretty much everyone has debris piled on their property. By debris, I mean rusted cars, old 50 gallon drums, bits of ancient construction equipment or farm implements, etc. Even most of the houses just look like massive piles of debris. Everything, everywhere just looks junky. Driving up to the Rustic Roots Café was no better than that – there were miscellaneous piles of rusted whatnot scattered about the property.

The restaurant itself was housed in what was nothing more than a trailer. It had two rooms: the kitchen and the dining room. It also had two staff: Ma (who introduced herself as Wynell) and Pa (not introduced at all). The dining room’s décor was all plywood. Plywood ceiling and walls, stick-um vinyl tile on the floor, and the folding tables were lined up in two long rows on either side of the room, each with vinyl tablecloths on them.

A dry erase board listed “Today’s fixin’s”. They were a choice between pork steak with rice and roast beef. The entrée was served with two of the following sides: salad, candied carrots, mashed taters & gravy, steamed broccoli. A buttermilk biscuit and dessert were also included as was a choice between serve-yourself water and iced tea (which brings me to describe two of the patrons of this establishment: a man and his wife come in. He walks over to the table where the water and iced tea pitchers were standing, picks up the last Styrofoam cup, fills it with a beverage and sits himself down with it. He leaves his wife standing there, searching under and around the table for another cup. She finally has to go into the kitchen to ask for a cup so she can finally pour herself a beverage).

On to the food. My wife and I ordered one of each of the entrees. I had the pork, which was a ½”-thick slice of bone-in pork chop, smothered with – wait for it – Rice-a-Roni™. Again, I wished I had my camera with me. The mashed taters were genuine, but the gravy seemed to be a blend of real pan drippings with what tasted like McCormick or Knorr sauce. It was amazingly salty and black-peppery, but definitely had chunks of real roast beef floating in it. Better was the salad, which was actually very fresh, aside from the prepackaged baby-cut carrots; Wynell claimed the ranch gravy was homemade and I believed her – it was quite good. The buttermilk biscuit and bread pudding were excellent. The roast beef was very nice and tender, but was unfortunately over-smothered with the same gravy that was used on the taters. Despite the fun I’m poking at the food, I did enjoy it, mainly because it was so unpretentious. It was great, tummy-filling country comfort food and was clearly prepared with great fondness. This is a place that I recommend for both the experience and the food, and the price: $9 per person.

Note that if you do go, the two menu choices and the sides change every day, and are the same for lunch and dinner on any given day. Given the limited choices, I recommend a call before you head out to find out what they’re cookin’ that day. They’re open Wednesday through Sunday only, and close at 8:00 PM.

Rustic Roots Café and Catering
School Road, 1 mile north of US Highway 380
Capitan, NM
(505) 354-3229

Casa de Patrón B&B Inn
Lincoln, New Mexico
(505) 653-4676
www.casapatron.com